Profit or loss percentage
A profit or loss as a percentage of what the shopkeeper paid.
₹30 profit: how many percent?
Kishanlal buys a sweater for ₹300 and sells it for ₹330. His profit is ₹30.
What is his percentage profit?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Percentage profit (or loss) = profit (or loss) ÷ cost price × 100, taking the cost price as 100%.
₹30 profit: how many percent?
Kishanlal buys a sweater for ₹300 and sells it for ₹330. His profit is ₹30.
What is his percentage profit?
- 10%
- 9.1%
- 30%
The cost price is 100%
The blue bar is the cost price, which is 100%. Move the selling price and watch the profit (green) or the loss (red) as a percentage. Two situations are in the tabs.
Count the cost price as 100%
Percentage profit (or loss) = profit (or loss) ÷ cost price × 100, taking the cost price as 100%.
Kishanlal: cost price ₹300, selling price ₹430, profit ₹130. 130/300 × 100 ≈ 43.3% A profit of about 43.3%.
Raghu: 10 kg of rice cost ₹350 and was sold for ₹300, a loss of ₹50. 50/350 × 100 ≈ 14.3% A loss of about 14.3%.
You can also go the other way. Shyamala bought a vase for ₹2650 and sold it at a loss of 18%. With the cost price as 100%, the selling price is 100% − 18% = 82% of it: 0.82 × 2650 = ₹2173 Or: the loss is 18% of 2650, which is ₹477, and 2650 − 477 = ₹2173.
Notes
Percentage profit (or loss) = profit (or loss) ÷ cost price × 100, taking the cost price as 100%.
Check yourself
A shopkeeper buys a bag for ₹400 and sells it for ₹500. What is his percentage profit?
Answer: 25 %
The profit is 500 − 400 = 100. 100/400 × 100 = 25%
A trader buys a clock for ₹250 and sells it for ₹200. What is his percentage loss?
Answer: 20 %
The loss is 250 − 200 = 50. 50/250 × 100 = 20%
A toy costs a shopkeeper ₹120 and he sells it for ₹90. What is his percentage loss?
A shopkeeper buys a table for ₹800 and sells it at a loss of 15%. At what price does he sell it (in ₹)?
Answer: 680
The selling price is 85% of the cost price. 85/100 × 800 = ₹680 Or: the loss is 15% of 800, which is ₹120, and 800 − 120 = ₹680.
- 25% — correct. Yes! The loss is 30, and the base is the cost price, ₹120. 30/120 × 100 = 25%
- 33.3%. That divides the loss by the selling price (30 out of 90). The percentage loss is taken on the cost price, ₹120.
- 75%. That is the selling price as a percentage of the cost price (90 out of 120). The loss is the missing part: 100% − 75% = 25%.